What a 25-Day AIS Blackout Off Libya Tells Us About Mediterranean Narcotics Routes
At a Glance The 25-Day Gap Between Albania and Libya In late August 2026, a Mali-flagged general cargo vessel left an Albanian port, declared Egypt as its destination, and switched off its AIS transponder in open water off eastern Libya. For 25 days and 8 hours, nothing was transmitted. When it reappeared on September 23,…
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Vessels Loiter Over Subsea Cables and Pipelines Across Five Theaters
At a Glance Chinese Survey Grids Converge on the Guam and Japan Cable Corridors Two Chinese state-linked vessels have spent September running structured survey grids over separate transpacific subsea cable corridors, one around the Guam cable hub and one over the Japan to U.S. cables east of Japan. A Chinese-flagged fishery patrol vessel operated by…
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Forty-Five Shadow Fleet Tankers Link to a Single Hong Kong Nominee
At a Glance One Nominee, Forty-Five Companies, Forty-Five Tankers Windward’s visual link analysis has identified 45 Russia-trading shadow fleet tankers connected through 45 single-ship Hong Kong companies to one beneficial owner. All but three share 19 different ISM managers with addresses in the same industrial cluster in the Azerbaijani city of Sumqayit. 42 of the…
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What Is the Shadow Fleet, and Why Is It So Hard to Count?
At a Glance There Is No Official Shadow Fleet List The shadow fleet, also called the dark fleet, refers to tankers and support vessels that rely on deceptive shipping practices to move sanctioned or high-risk commodities while concealing their true origin, ownership, or destination. That definition is broadly recognized in practice. It has no standing…
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